The present invention relates to an improved supporting device for musical instruments such as high-hat cymbals, and more particularly relates to improvement in the spring mechanism for urging an operating rod carrying the movable one of the musical instruments to move against pressure applied to a foot pedal.
In the construction of the conventional supporting device for musical instruments such as high-hat stands, the stationary on of the musical instruments, e.g. the lower stationary cymbal, is supported by a pipe mechanism, which is comprised of an upper and lower pipes slidably coupled to each other in a telescopic fashion, mounted on a tripoid. An operating rod extends slidably through the pipe mechanism and carries the movable one of the musical instruments, e.g. the upper movable cymbal over the staionary one of the musical instruments. This operating rod is operationally coupled to a foot pedal for the player of the musical instruments. When the foot pedal is stepped in, the operating rod is lowered through the pipe mechanism to hit the movable one of the musical instrument against the stationary one of the musical instruments, thereby generating tones. In order to make the movable one of the musical instruments automatically resume its original position, i.e. a position apart from the stationary one of the musical instruments, after the pressure on the foot pedal is removed, a compression spring is provided within the pipe mechanism in such an arrangement that the spring is compressed when the foot pedal is stepped in and the operating rod is lowered. When the pressure applied to the foot pedal is removed, repulsion of the compression spring makes the operating rod lift and the movable one of the musical instruments resume its original position.
Provision of the spring element within the pipe mechanism and use of the compression spring for this purpose are inevitably accompanied with several drawbacks.
When a spring element of a large spring constant is used, reaction of the spring element to player's action is very quick. That is, upon removal of the pressure on the foot pedal, the movable one of the musical instruments instantly resume its original position without any substantial delay. Thus, even when the foot pedal is repeatedly stepped in in succession, the reaction of the movable one of the musical instruments fairly follows the quick action of the player. However, strong repulsion of the spring element accordingly requires strong force for pressing the foot pedal and it is rather difficult for beginners to step in the foot pedal with strong force repeatedly in succession. When a spring element of a small spring constant is used, it is easy even for beginners to step in the foot pedal repeatedly in succession as relatively small force is required for pressing the foot pedal. In this case, however, it is rather difficult to expect for quick and fair reaction of the upper one of the musical instruments. For this reason, it is preferable that the repulsion of the spring element can be adjusted in accordance with the player's requirement, which varies from player to player. In the construction of the conventional supporting device used for this purpose, the spring element is fixedly or semi-fixedly encased within the pipe mechanism and adjustment of the spring repulsion is effected by turning an adjusting scew disposed to the lower end of the pipe mechanism to which one end of the spring element is connected. This adjusting system may enable fine range adjustment of the spring repulsion but is not adapted for wide range adjustment of the spring repulsion. So, when wide range adjustment of the spring repulsion is required to meet the player's preference, it is necessary to use a different set of supporting device equipped with a spring element of a different spring constant, which is very disadvantageous from economic point of view.
In addition, the conventional pipe mechanism encases therein the spring element as well as the operating rod, necessarily making the hollow space of the pipe large. Such a large hollow space of the pipe mechanism functions like a kind of resonator amplifying undesirable noises. Namely, compression and extension of the spring element inevitably cause frequent frictional contact thereof with the inner wall of the pipe mechanism and this frictional contact generates undesirable noises. These noises are amplified due to the above-described resonant nature of the pipe mechanism and the amplified noises are issued outside the pipe mechanism to disturb tones normally generated by the musical instruments.
Especially when strong spring repulsion is required, it is necessary to enlarge the dimension of the spring element and this naturally necessitates corresponding increase in the diameter of the pipe mechanism in order to minimize the above-described frictional contact of the spring element with the inner wall of the pipe mechanism. This does not fairly meet the general requirement for compactness of the supporting device. Thus, with the construction of the conventional supporting device for musical instruments adjustment of the spring repulsion inevitably necessitate corresponding change in the design of the pipe mechanism for encasing the spring element.
Further, use of the compression spring usually connects to relatively delayed reaction of the spring system to the action imposed upon the foot pedal by the player.